im going to build a pond soon , yay
the dimensions are 6 metres by 2 metres but
im not sure how deep i need it to be
the temperature ranges from 40-100
so any help will be appreciated
i promise to post when im done!

My pond is 3 different levels. My lower section ranges frmo 18 inches to 2 1/2 feet. My upper portion is 4 ft deep. The Koi are happy in either side. I keep the fancy gold fish on deeper side because the pump which is in the other side tends to sometime catch the smaller fish. For the winter next year the Koi will go in the deeper and bigger side.

Are those temperatures Celsius or Fahrenheit? For the fish dig it as deep as you can. For temperatures dig it below your freeze line.

the temp are in fahrenheit
i doesnt quiet get to freezing pont here

Then I would dig it as deep as you can, at the very least 2 foot. As Debi said you can make it different depths to.

ok thanks lackfa
2 foot is bout 60cm right?
thats pretty deep
i was only planning about half the size
ill have to wait and see what i can do

If your temps get up too 100 I would suggest going a lot deeper than 2 feet. And with temps that high you should try too incorporate as much aeration as possible. The more the better. Another big consideration is, are you looking for a koi pond or a watergarden/ goldie pond.
I am definately metrically challenged but I am guessing you are planning on something around 18' long by 6' wide. If you go between 4'-5' deep the temps will be much more stable. At 2' they are going too be cooking in the summer and the oxygen levels will not be suitable for any type of fish.

thanks for replying jetman
the temp only gets to 100 fahrenheit a few days in summer
so i think ill dig it a bit over 2 foot
as with filtration, the one im currently using is a biofilter (i think its a hoselock)
what type do you recommend?
as with the pond im in a dilemma
i dont know if i should keep my goldies
or start a koi pond and buy those huge kois 1 foot
anyone got any ideas?
ive only got two kois at the moment
but i also want to get some fancy goldies
like pearlscale and ryukins
what shoudl i do anyone

You need too how many gallons you are going too have before deciding on a filtration system. If you visit this site www.akca.org they have tremendous information on building ponds however some of it is a little outdated.
The best way too build a pond is too do it right the first time. That is easy too say but almost impossible in real life too do. Myself included. My pond is only 5 months old and I am already thinking of making changes down the road.
If you want too keep koi you should give them plenty of room and plenty of filtration since they get huge and produce enormous amounts of waste. I will take a guess and say that 1, 30" koi would produce as much waste as 25 full grown commons.
Just too let you know I will be introducing 2 of my tank fish into my pond in about 6 weeks. A 7" fantail and a 7" ryukin. I will let you know how it goes, but I have seen the biggest ryukin in my life (By Far) living in a pond with large koi.

My pond is only 2 foot and my fish don't cook. I have plenty of waterlilies and other plants to shade the water. I also have a waterfall to help with aeration. I live in Missouri where the temps reach 100F at times. I did shade the pond last summer for a while, but that is the first time in 7 years I have had to do that.

thanks for your advice guys
jetman please let me know what happens to your pond
i want to get soem idea so that i can avoid mistakes

What part of the country are you from? The reason I said go deeper than 2' is because you said your temps range from 40-100. That would be a subtropical climate not too far away from what I have here in florida.
Lachfa made a great point that in his/her environment 2' is sufficient even if it does reach 100. My thoughts are if you are in warmer environment where it stays over 90 degrees during the day for several months you should go deeper.
And I have never met a person that built a pond that did not wish they went deeper.
Any thoughts anyone regarding depth?

i live in australia
the temp only reaches 100 a few days a year
it normally stay under 90
im building my pond under a big avacado tree
is that alright?
and im going to build a roof made from the
same material as those colorbond fence
i think that rain water is no good for my pond
before when i didnt have a roof , alot of my fish
died after heavy rain which somehow causes the
water to turn brown- must be atmospheric pollution or something
also the roof will help to keep out leaves and dust
so how is your pond going along jetman?

I think you'd be happier with a deeper pond. My first pond was only about 100 gallons, looked great for awhile but I was tired of it after a few months. It was just too small. I then built another one, it was larger and only 1 ft deep, about 1,000 gallons. Although I really enjoyed this one more, it still wasn't enough! I then built it out and connected the two and made the new addition (between) 2 1/2 foot deep. My pond was then about 1,500 gallons (probably a little more). The problem was my koi were getting bigger. Last summer I went down 5 ft and I LOVE it. The fish have more room, the more water you have the easier it is to keep problems under control (ammonia, nitrites etc), and wow it's a huge difference!

A big problem with shallow ponds is predators. I lost 5 koi last spring to a CAT. Two of these koi were 12" and you'd think a cat couldn't get one that big, but they can. I was pretty unhappy when I found scales all over the deck.

Anyhow, good luck on what ever you decide to do.

Scott

thanks for sharing your experiences Scott
i dont think im going to have a koi pond
because im too attached to the goldies
im sorry to hear about your kois
i luckily dont have that problem, i dont have
many cat or stray cats around here
i have one major problem with the pond
my tank is going to be built in between a contained wall on one side
this wasnt a problem with my old pond because it sat above the floor
now if i dig it too deep, i wonder if it would look alright
5ft would be too deep for my pond
i better get started and stop procrastinating
what type of filters do you guys use?

The way I keep my cats out of the pond is when they are young I boot them in the first time the look at a fish. I have two new cats in the neighborhood and I have a new one too - I am sure they will have to go for a swim this spring.

My pond is only 2 foot deep because I dug it by hand and I live in Missouri (clay and rock) - I agree with jetman - go as deep as you can, you won't regret it.

If you do buy Koi, get small ones they grow very fast. But I would stick with the gf in a smaller pond. I have 3 Koi and the rest are gf. If they get too big I will either dig a bigger pond or give them to my friend who has lots of ponds!

Lachfa, I'm going to have the same problem with my Koi. I don't see us building a bigger pond and eventually they will be too big for the pond. Next year they will winter outside because they will be too big for the tubs.

I can't see me getting rid of any of my fish either - looks like I better get the shovel out... Anyone got a backhoe I could borrow?

i think one big pond will do
i know many people who upsize their ponds or build
new ones
it kinda gets addictive
my first one came with a statue of a lady holding a jug
and thats where the water came out
i think this will be my last pond for a while
since i dont have much land here, most of it is concrete
thats the price we pay for living closer o the city
so thats why i gotta get it right first time
hope it all goes well

Cats? Don't really care for them in my garden which is double fenced; chain link and solid board. I filed a complaint with the local police against one neighbor who has a cat that lives in my garden. We have a city ordinance against roaming domestic animals. I've caught the cat fishing in one of my ponds. I keep 2 Have A Heart humane traps set and baited in my garden and have caught numerous animals; one racoon, one gray fox, countless opossums and a number of cats. The cats are hauled to the local pound where they are either claimed by the owner after paying a fee, adopted out or euthanized. I don't think I've lost any fish to a cat yet, but lost several nice goldfish to a water snake. I finally dug it out of the back recesses of the waterfall, killed it and sure enough it had the half-digested remains of my calico oranda in its gut. I love my box turtles, toads, narrowed mouthed and tree frogs but do my best to keep other types of frogs out of the ponds.

As for pond depth, I'd like mine deeper but was thankful this past spring that the one I fell into wasn't any deeper. I know a person can drown in less than 4 inches of water and it gives me chills every time I think about slipping like I did on the rock edge and falling in and hitting my head on the rocks. I came out stunned and bloodied. Had I hit any harder and knocked myself out I'd have drowned as there wasn't anyone around at the time. This is not a happy thought to end on, but now you have my thoughts on cats and water depth. Yes, I'm more careful now when working and walking around the ponds.

Milo,

First let me say, I am glad that you are okay. I never thought about what would happened if I fell in and hit my head like that. You make a good point.

I also put out traps for the cats. I had to do something to protect my fish! After all this is not the cats yard it belongs to the fish. I wish we had an ordinance against roaming domestic animals, that would be awesome! Cats should be kept inside and not let out. There are some people who don't care for them (me for one). Although honestly they never did bother me until my fish started coming up missing. Now I can see the use for such an ordinance.

Scott

wow Milo
you get alot of wildlife using your pond
i wish i could get some
the only animals that come are possums and lorakeets
but they are harmless to my koi
sorry to hear about your accident and hitting your head
i guess you better becareful round your pond especially
if when its wet or if you have some moss growing

Thanks for the comments of concern following my report of falling into my pond. You hardly ever think about what can happen until it happens. Accidents do happen. As for wildlife, let me add this. When building my first pond I considered putting in a shallow area for the song birds to drink and bathe. I'm so glad I didn't after seeing what the grackles leave in my bird bath; feces, fecal sacs from the nestlings, bread and other foods and worst of all the dead hatchlings. I can't see how any of this would add to pond health. Yesterday I noticed some goldfinches sitting on the plant cover in the pond. Right now about 60% of the surface area is covered with a floating island made up of half- frozen water hyacinth and water lettuce and lush green giant salvinia, azolla and parrots feather. The goldfinches were eating something and I believe it was the giant salvinia. Of course the goldfinches didn't just leave, they left something of themselves in the form of droppings which got washed into the pond by yesterdays 1.3 inches of rain. Pond water temperatures today were 57 degrees, up 6 degrees this afternoon from yesterdays 51 degrees. The air temperature is a balmy 66 degrees here in north Mississippi.

none of the birds ate from my pond
this was because my old pond was above the ground and the water was too deep
when i build my new one, they would probably come
i see them drinking from the rainwater -thats where i get my mosquito larvae
i would have lots of bird droppings too if it wasnt for the plastic cover
when i took it down, i found lots of birds dropping and also possum droppings
do you get leaves in your pond Milo?
if so how do you deal with it?

I get raccoons at my pond too. I keep lights on all night which scare them away. I get all sorts of birds that like to bathe in the pond as if it their own personal bird bath. Last year they kept flattening some of my plants. I have lots of frogs but remove turtles. The box turtles eat my plants and the snapping turtles eat my fish.

Leaves in my ponds? You betcha! One pond has bird netting over it to keep the cats out and the net catches the big leaves. Pine needles are the big problem. I don't have any pine trees on the property as I had them all cut down after the big ice storm of Dec. 98 when limbs came crashing through the roof. However, my neighbors still have pine trees and needles blow when it is windy and easily slip through the net. Since neither pond is large I just try to pick out leaves and pine needles when I see them floating on the surface. I don't get them all. Since pine needles fall every day of the year it is a never ending problem.

It was kind of funny today. The air temp was in the low 30's but it must have been like summer under the pond covers as I could hear the frogs croaking.

wow you must be living out there in the wilderness
ive never heard a forg croak
only cicadas and thats so annoying
i can never get the leaves all out
they always end up in the pond
so annoying
so futile

I love to hear the frogs in the spring and summer - it is one of the things I loved most about my pond.